Biol 111 Journal entry
Of my 10 observations, I located the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) on a phylogenetic tree using OneZoom. Before branching off into its own species, it shares a common ancestor with the Purple-blow maple (Acer truncatum) and the Acer pictum. It first begins at Eukaryotes, then follows the branch until pentapetalae, then rosids, then malvids, then sapindales, and then the soapberry family. Thereafter, each species begin to branch off into its own. The Norway Maple is found deep within the phylogenetic tree, thus a lot of evolution has taken place before it.
For our project, every observed species has leaves. The leaves differ in size and shape, while most leaves are green. They are green because they contain chlorophyll, which is an important molecule for photosynthesis.
The Norway Maple is unique from my other observations because it has 5 lobes. Most of my observed leaves are oval shaped, and the other maples only have 3 lobes.
